I was a student at Lowell High School and spent three years doing test prep at various local tutoring centers. Having done so, I can say with high confidence that the material taught across all these competitors was very similar and typically comprised two parts: a lesson and a subsequent test on that lesson. (TBH, one can only "diverge" so much in teaching a standardized test like the SAT and anyone telling you they teach you exceptionally different or "top secret" material is trying to sell you something.) If you've been to as many test prep centers as I have, you, too, will find this format is pretty much universal.
Having said that, I want to point out what DID make a difference for me among these cookie-cutter test-prep centers, and they are the educators at TestMagic. The various TestMagic classes I attended were led by punctual, highly intelligent teachers who were full of energy and patience. They were deeply knowledgeable about the subjects they taught and cared for students just as much, if not more. They approached struggling students with remarkable positivity and without slowing down the classes too much, simultaneously helping those falling behind and reinforcing material for others (and naturally, there were struggling students in every class in all tutoring centers I've been to; some environments just force them to learn to hide). In other words, TestMagic's educators were focused and helped all of us without losing speed. Bravo to TM for hiring and training teachers who know how to maintain a classroom.
I felt extremely comfortable speaking with TM's educators in a way I did not with their competitors' teachers, who oozed feelings of superiority and condescension during break times. No, their competitors weren't necessarily condescending to us students, but rather, implicitly encouraged us to put down other tutoring centers. That really rubbed me the wrong way -- it was hardly ever done in good taste. I never found putting down other people to be helpful in making myself smarter, and perhaps there is a bit of irony here in my indirect complaint, but nevertheless, I was very glad to have switched to TestMagic when I did. The learning environment at TM was like a breath of fresh air as we spent more time learning without the unpleasant cloud of teasing someone else hanging over my head. I ended taking several subject-focused classes at TestMagic upon finishing a year of SAT prep, and after all these years, still feel like I got the most bang for my buck here.
Pardon the cliché, but at TM, I actually felt like a valued human being and not just another number. The classroom teaching style is more relaxed than most other tutoring centers whose m.o. is to pack as many students as possible into a classroom and beat the lessons into you "at a bargain price." Sometimes, people mistaken enjoyable learning as the absence of learning, and consider the miserable learning as the only kind of learning. I am happy to report that I now know the difference among those different learning modes, and TM definitely enforced the enjoyable kind. As a student completing Chemistry and Philosophy double-major at an Ivy-league college, I can relay with confidence that the teachers at TM were crucial in both preparing me for higher learning and equipping me with life skills, the combination of which is a rarity.
I want to close my review with a shout-out to TM founder and educator Erin Billy, who metaphorically held my hand through all my struggles in English literature, poetry, and eventually, my college admissions essays and applications. Erin bends over backwards for all his students and has an incredible sense of humor that made classes something I really looked forward to attending. If you like witty puns and occasional dad jokes, you should meet Erin. I now regularly ping Erin for life advice -- yes, I trust him that much, and yes, he is that approachable -- and you will, too, if you were to meet him. I count my lucky stars for having spent my high school weekends at TestMagic and don't regret a single dime. read more
